Wednesday, February 04, 2015

cinema obscura: Stig Björkman's "Georgia, Georgia" (1972)

Now is the time
to praise the great Diana Sands, who died at age 39 of cancer way back in
September of 1973, just as she was becoming that truly rare commodity - a major
and majorly serious film actress. She left only a handful of film roles behind
- ranging from Joshua Logan's delightfully frivolous "Ensign Pulver" (in which she
and Al Freeman, Jr. are quite comic) to Hal Ashby's crucial race-relations
comedy, ”The Landlord.”

But her best work came in a film that
virtually disappeared almost immediately following its release in 1972.
Stig Björkman's "Georgia, Georgia," based on an original script by
Maya Angelou, is a shockingly emotional and gaspingly original examination of a
taboo topic - dealing with a back woman overtaken by "white fever."
Obviously, Angelou's screenplay is penetrating a very specific black psyche
here, and much of its brilliance is directly related to Sands' nakedly brave
performance as American songstress Georgia Martin.

Georgia has developed something of a
cult following in Europe - a status which Georgia's traveling companion/mother
figure, Alberta (played with fierce intensity by Minnie Gentry), feels has
compromised the singer's blackness in general and her heritage in particular.
Starting her concert tour in Sweden (where most of the movie was filmed),
Georgia is clearly experiencing a crisis of identity and seems to be willfully
drifting away from "her community," particuarly when she, well,
drifts into an affair with a white man (Dirk Benedict, below with Sands).

Made at the
height of the Vietnam war, "Georgia, Georgia" also manages to weave
in some then-topical political asides, such as a group of black Vietnam
deserters who hope to enlist Georgia as a convenient mouthpiece - a spokesperson "to talk up for
the black deserter community."
It's all compellingly fascinating as both Georgia and the film surrounding her
refuse to do anything that we would expect of them.

Björkman, who directed "Georgia,
Georgia," giving it a pulsing pace, was a former movie critic in Sweden
before turning to filmmaking and, at one time, was considered one of Sweden's
most promising and gifted young directors. But he seems to have inexplicably
disappeared, along with this film, having produced very little output (all of
it Swedish) since '72.Diana Sands' last film was 1974's "Honeybaby, Honeybaby," for
director Michael Schultz. She was about to appear in John Berry's
"Claudine" (also a '74 film) when she died, replaced in the film by
Diahann Carroll, who received an Oscar nomination for the role as a single
mother struggling to raise her family in Harlem. James Earl Jones co-starred.

That would be terrific, Jennifer. In addition to "Georgia, Georgia," there's another Sands film that's lost - "An Affair of the Skin," an obscure 1963 indie that she made with Lee Grant (her eventual co-star in "The Landlord"), Kevin McCarthy and Viveca Lindfors.

Thanks for celebrating one of the 20th century's most gifted actresses. Onstage, Diana Sands was a pioneer in non-traditional (sometimes called "colorblind") casting. While she only appeared in a handful of films (and most of them, sadly, somewhat obscure like "Georgia, Georgia"), each of her performances is evidence of the powerful command she had of her craft.

Actors of color still confront many of the same challenges today that Sands faced in the 60s and 70s. Her life, her talent, and her achievements were all phenomenal and they continue to serve as inspiration to contemporary students and young artists.

Regarding Lee's comment about the "colorblind" casting of Diana Sands, most people forget that she starred on stage in "The Own and the Pussycat" opposite Alan Alda, in the role that Barbra Streisand played on film.

A postscript: I interviewed Diana when she came to Philadelphia to promote the excreable "Doctor's Wives," a film clearly beneath her. We spent most of our time commiserating about how so many critics seemed to willfully misunderstand "The Landlord" (e.g., Judith Crist and Gene Shalit, both of whom panned it and put it on their 10 Worst lists for the year). Fortunately, time has corrected matters. "The Landlord" is now well-regarded, arguably the finest of race-relations films.

Diana was not only a great actress, but a wonderful person. In person, there was no disappointment.

yes, this film oprah should have open for after 45 years and shes also love Diana sands too. Georgia,georgia resembles my life as a willing upcoming director,dancer and singer as activist. thanks for showing my story.

this can be a film about being in love but forgot whom they are. you know maya's main way of writing scripts was a sure proclaiming way that someone has to open a story just to be honest, olarifable and capable of a good natural real life dialouge. a drug addict once said from a play called straight from the womb-"don't know nothing if you know their story". in some cases the industry wants to anybody make a coonish watermelon man or Jackie brown just to say of speak. georgia martin may not be a hero like some of us but she respresents a character who can tell the world where to kiss it. im not a maya fan but Georgia, Georgia is a way a life suppose to happen. im a rae 'loose' for Diana sands. what a great actress and activist she was to be. im trying to get into directing and I know things will get a rwa change if this film relects my life- certainly wants to get out.

a fan's notes by joe baltake devoted to movies neglected and mostly misunderstood

pageviews today ~ 1,535,456

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

about this site, a collection of movie-fed daydreams...

Life is simply one grand excuse to watch movies and then sit around and think about them. While my education was honed by reviewing films for Gannett, Tribune, McClatchy, The News Corporation and Knight-Ridder, my personality - or rather my taste - was shaped largely in my old neighborhood movie theater and on my parents' living room floor. Watching movies. And falling in love with the unacclaimed. Passionately.(the passionate moviegoer ® is a registered trademark)

quote unquote

"There is no better evidence of Joe's passion than his subject matter, defending and remembering the more obscure titles from cinematic history. No matter how much you think you might know about movies, odds are you will learn of new ones if you check out Joe's site."

"Joe ... devotes himself to those myriad neglected figures and movies seemingly left by the roadside in our societal rush toward cultural amnesia. Whether he is trying to find the source of Jack Lemmon's quicksilver appeal or understand Vincente Minnelli's valedictory films or express just why we miss Jack Carson, Joe is consistently thoughtful and knowledgeable without being ponderous."